Performance Trends in Large Group Performance Ensemble Based on Composer Gender, Nationality and Ethnicity: 2010-2020

The purpose of this project is to discover performance trends in the repertoire performed at the Large Group Performance Evaluation (LGPE) by bands in Georgia, with respect to composer gender, nationality, and ethnicity. To gather this information, we compiled a spreadsheet with all of the known pieces middle and high school bands played at LGPE between 2010-2020 and began to identify the gender, nationality, and ethnicity of each composer listed. This spreadsheet was created from a report generated by the GMEA office staff of the complete program listings by year for bands at LGPE. One question was how to identify gender, ethnicity, and nationality. To solve this, we used Wikipedia and windrep.org, a database with short biographies on various composers, to research the gender, ethnicity, and nationality of the composers. Nationality was particularly difficult to identify, as some composers may have identified as “Asian American” or they were born in one country and grew up in another. Additionally, some British composers identified as “British” while others were more specific to “English”, “Scottish”, or “Irish”. While this project is close to completion and still a work in progress, the initial data collection indicates an overwhelming majority of composers whose works were performed at LGPE are white, male, and American or European. This study seeks to shine a light on trends relative to LGPE programming based on composer gender, nationality, and ethnicity and where applicable, make recommendations toward a balanced approach to programming in regards to these same factors.